District Lacking In Access To Care

Among the key findings and issues highlighted in the study's first phase:

¿ There are big gaps in data needed to improve services. Health-care officials know little about the status of children's health and their access to care. Reliable estimates on the prevalence of mental health problems are "extremely limited." Moreover, even when data are collected, analysis lags, so decisions are based on outdated information.

¿ The District's health is comparable to that of cities with similar demographics, though with many troubling health indicators. More than 25 percent of D.C. adults have high blood pressure and 10 percent have asthma; nearly 25 percent are obese. More than one in three children ages 6 to 12 are overweight, one in two in Ward 6. Twelve percent of children through age 17 have asthma, a number that spikes to almost one in five in Ward 7.

Eight percent of city residents have not visited a dentist in five years or longer.

¿ Compared with an overall ratio of 54 adult primary-care providers per 100,000 District residents, Ward 7 has the smallest ratio in the city, with six health-care providers per 100,000 residents. More than 23 percent of adults there ranked their health as fair or poor, the worst self-appraisal in the city.